INTRODUCTION

Losing data because of a computer problem or a hard disk crash is discouraging, to say the least. You might lose family photos, your music collection, or financial data. And, after you get the computer just the way that you want it, it can take a long time to reconfigure your personal settings on a new computer: desktop background, sounds, screensavers, and wireless network configurations to name just a few

However, a little prevention can go a long way to avoiding this ordeal. To help save you lots of time and aggravation, we recommend that you take the precaution of regularly backing up your data and settings.

This article describes how to manually back up your personal files and settings in Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003. It also describes how to use the data tools in Windows to back up your files and settings.

More Information

Method 1: Manually back up your files and settings to removable media or to a network location

The simplest method is to manually back up your files and settings to removable media or a network location. You can specify the files and settings that you want to back up and how often you want to perform a backup.

Note Examples of removable media include external hard disks, DVDs, CDs, and USB memory cards. You can back up files to a different computer or a network device if your computer is connected to a network such as a wireless network.

To manually copy your files to a network location or to removable media on a computer that is running Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, or Windows Server 2003, follow these steps:

Click Start

, click Computer and then double-click the drive where you currently have Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, or Windows Server 2003 installed.

Open the Users folder, and then open the user folder that contains the files that you want to back up.

Copy the necessary folders from the user folder to a network location or to removable media.

Notes

To back up data for all users, repeat steps 2–3.

To determine the size of all the files in the user folder, select all the folders, right-click those selected folders, and then click Properties.

The saved files can be copied to any computer. However, you must have corresponding applications installed on that computer to open those individual files.

Not all applications save their files to the user folder. You should make sure that you check other applications and the file system location where the applications save files by default, and then copy those files to the network location or to the removable media.

Method 2: Use the Easy Transfer feature to back up data to a different computer

The next easiest method is to use the Easy Transfer feature in Windows to transfer data to a different computer. This section discusses the following scenarios in which you can use the Easy Transfer feature to back up data to a different computer:

Your computer OS

Target computer OS

Windows 7

Windows 7

Windows 7

Windows Vista

Windows Vista

Windows Vista

Back up a Windows 7-based computer

Transfer files and settings to another Windows 7-based computer

The Windows Easy Transfer feature lets you to back up user account files and settings. Then you can restore those files and settings to a new computer. To start Windows Easy Transfer, follow these steps:

Back up a Windows Vista-based computer

Transfer files and settings to another Windows Vista-based computer

The Windows Easy Transfer feature lets you to back up user account files and settings. Then you can restore those files and settings to the new computer. To start Windows Easy Transfer, follow these steps:

Click Start, type transfer in the Start Search box, and then click Windows Easy Transfer in the Programs list.

Click Next. If you are prompted to close programs, make sure that you have saved any open documents, and then click Close all.

Follow the steps to transfer files and settings.

Method 3: Use the Backup and Restore Center

As a precaution, you can use the Backup and Restore Center feature in Windows 7 and Windows Vista to back up your data.

Back up a Windows 7-based computer

Note Data that you back up by using the Windows 7 Backup and Restore Center can be restored only on a Windows 7-based operating system.

Click Start, type backup in the Start Search box, and then click Backup and Restore in the Programs list.

Note If you are prompted to close programs, make sure that you have saved any open documents and close those programs. Or, click Close Programs.